Disclaimer - Usual.

Chapter 64

"Potter, you can't even do that spell."

This was the last night before the Snatch-the-Egg paper had to be turned in, and Lily was getting frustrated.

"Well maybe you can't, Evans, but who says I can't?" James replied.

"Oh please. We don't even learn that until 7th year," she retorted. James just smiled smugly at her, causing her to throw her hands up in frustration.

"I'd like to point out," Remus said quietly and patiently, "that it was never specified that we had to be able to perform the spells ourselves. We just had to research what spells would make a good defense."

Lily squinted at Remus, annoyed, though unsurprised, that he was taking James' side. On the other hand, he did have a point. "Fine. What exactly does the spell do again?"

"It detects friend from foe. It's like a muggle alarm system and it will activate or alert all our other spells," James explained excitedly.

Lily nodded. She was struggling with herself. Potter and Black had become particularly obnoxious of late and she didn't like taking suggestions from them; however, the spell really was an excellent idea. "Remus, can you add it in?"

Remus blushed and glanced at James uncomfortably. "Already done."

"What?" Lily turned her attention to James, "Potter! Do you have any concept of the idea of teamwork?"

"I do, as a matter of fact, and nearly half of our 'team' thought it was a good idea, so I asked Moony to go ahead and change it. Do you have any concept of teamwork? Or does it have something to do with me? Because it seems the only time you've taken suggestions from me is when it comes through someone else."

Lily looked taken aback for a moment, realizing James was right in what he said. "As I recall, you were one of the people who appointed me 'team leader.' It makes sense that I know about changes that are going to be made to our final project and will affect the whole team."

"Stop it! Both of you," Gillette spoke up. "The idea was good; the change has been made. It doesn't matter. The project gets turned in tomorrow and you won't have to work with each other anymore. Stop bickering."

Lily and James both looked at her in surprise. Gillette rarely interrupted their spats, as she tended to find them rather amusing; but today things seemed more serious. Or perhaps she just wasn't feeling her best. Either way, she'd had enough of the arguing.

"Thank you," Sirius said, sounding exasperated. He also thought the fighting had gotten out of hand and Lily was being particularly irksome of late.

They finished the project rather quickly after that. Nobody really wanted to risk causing another argument.

The next day, they turned in their Snatch-the-Egg scrolls and wondered what the next assignment would be, when it would be due, and would it be another group project. But Professor Whistler didn't give a new assignment, saying that it would come after the holidays.

Remus was going home with James again, but he had plans to spend part of the holiday with Aden and her family. He had, of course, gotten permission from Madam Pomfrey.

Peter was going to meet up with Remus and James the day after Christmas and spend the night. This left Sirius the only one without any plans for the holiday.

The train ride back to Kings Cross Station was somewhat tense. The same group that shared the three compartments at the beginning of the year, shared them again now. Only this time, Lily and James spent much of their time sniping at each other, and Sirius was quiet and tense as he anticipated what "fun" would be in store for him this holiday. He had spent last summer away from home, and things changed enough from one holiday to another, let alone when he missed a whole summer.

When they got to the station, John and Peter's mum were waiting for Peter; the Potters and the Beynons were there as well. The usual round of greetings took place, though Lily looked uncomfortable. This was the first time her parents were not there to greet her.

"Well," she said sadly, "I better go. I don't think Petunia will come onto the platform anymore." She and Gillette whispered parting words and shared a hug before she left.

"It was nice seeing you again," Mrs. Beynon said to the Potters and Wagners, who for once hadn't left as soon as Peter arrived.

"You, too," Mrs. Potter smiled. Peter's mum nodded in agreement.

"Are you going to be able to get letters this holiday?" Gillette asked Sirius, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Who knows," Sirius sighed.

"All right. See you in a few." Gillette kissed Sirius on the cheek and then gave the others a hug before leaving with her parents.

The four Marauders stepped a little away from the Potters and Wagners. The parents had started discussing arrangements for Peter's arrival at the Potters' house.

"Listen," Sirius said conspiratorially, "I've been thinking…"

"Uh-ho," Remus interjected.

Sirius scowled at Remus but continued, "I'm going to try to sneak away, say… the day after Christmas… Head into London. We should meet up."

Remus and James both frowned. "Sirius… You're going to get yourself in trouble," James warned.

"Mm. Maybe, but…"

"Sirius!" Mrs. Black's familiar voice called out.

Sirius cringed. "It's worse than nails on a blackboard… I've got the mirror. I'll talk with you later." He waved good-bye to the Potters and Wagners before leaving.

By the time he got home, it was pretty clear that his mother was in ignore-mode again, which was fine with him. That meant he could spend most of his time in his room, making it easier to slip away.

At dinner that evening, Sirius was trying very hard to keep from being noticed. He wouldn't be able to sneak out if he was shadowed again. He figured the best way to avoid this was not to cause problems. But then the conversation took an unexpected turn.

"Regulus, dear, when will Severus be arriving?" Mrs. Black asked very sweetly.

Sirius inhaled suddenly at Snivellus' name, causing him to choke on his food. His eyes watering slightly from the near asphyxiation, he looked up at his brother.

Regulus smirked. "He'll be here the day after Christmas."

Sirius groaned. "You've got to be kidding me."

Mrs. Black cast a sharp look at her son, but said nothing.

"No. He's coming by to help me with a few assignments. He's become something of a… mentor… you know… older brother type," Regulus said coldly.

Sirius stared at his brother, a bit stunned by what he'd just said. "You can't be serious."

"No… thank goodness for small favors." Regulus cruelly turned the familiar joke back on Sirius.

"Well, at least hanging around with him has taught you to recognize a joke."

"I learned that watching you - however sad and pathetic it might be."

When had Regulus become so spiteful? "Better sad and pathetic than a blind, dumb sheep."

"Seems to me, I'm not the black sheep, here."

"No, because in this family that would mean you had a brain and could think for yourself."

"Sirius!" his mother finally intervened. "You insult not only Regulus but this entire family. Can we not even have a simple meal without you causing problems?"

"Fine." Sirius stood up. "I'll be in my room. I've lost my appetite anyway." He turned his back on his family and went to his room. Kreacher had already unpacked his belongings. "Kreacher!" Sirius called.

It took almost two full minutes for the house elf to respond. "Yes, master," he croaked.

"I told you not to unpack my things."

"Mistress wants you settled in, master."

"Why?... Oh never mind. You're dismissed." Sirius carefully repacked everything. He knew the house elf would simply unpack the next chance he got, so Sirius bewitched everything to return to the trunk if it was moved. That way, he wouldn't have to repack every day.

The next day, Sirius was ignored except for right after lunch. His mother had sought him out, declaring his appearance was a travesty and only mudblood and blood-traitors would allow their appearance to become so careless. It wasn't until he was fighting off a pair of bewitched scissors that he remembered he'd let his hair grow out. He was pleasantly pleased at the distress it caused his mother. Fortunately for him, he'd gotten better at magic – spells and shields – and the scissors failed in their mission. At supper time, Mrs. Black didn't talk to him, but she kept glaring at him and muttering about his hair. It really took quite a bit of self control for Sirius not to burst out laughing at the woman.

Christmas came quickly, and that evening James contacted Sirius. Peter and Remus were on the other end with James.

"How's your Christmas going, Padfoot?" James asked.

"Bloody marvelous," Sirius answered sarcastically. "And I get the best Christmas present ever tomorrow."

"What's that?" Remus asked.

"Snivellus. He's coming for a visit."

"Bugger," James remarked.

"So…" Sirius began, changing his tone and mood. "London tomorrow? We can meet up at the Leaky Cauldron."

"I don't know…" James said.

"Prongs. Pleeeeaaaasssse. I'm going stir crazy here and, as much as I love messing with that little greaseball, I don't want to be here while he is. Don't make me resort to begging." With that, Sirius changed into his dog form and sat on his hind end, his front paws up in the air.

Laughter came from the other side of the mirror, though Remus said, "All right, all right. Now turn back before you get caught."

Sirius returned to human form, grinning broadly. "So? Are we on?"

"Yes," James laughed. "What time?"

"Eight?"

"Pads, you do realize you're the only one who gets up that early on a holiday, right?"

"Gets up? At eight? I was planning on having had breakfast by then. Fine. I'll be there by eight. You show up when you get the chance. If I'm not there, I'll be in Diagon Alley."

"But where?" James asked.

"Just use the mirror. Oh, hey. Do any of you have muggle clothes?"

"We're all shorter than you, Sirius. So even if we did, they wouldn't fit."

"Hmm. Right…"

"Okay. Sirius, be careful."

Sirius grinned again. "You know me."

"I think that was his point," Remus teased.

"Good night, Moony," Sirius said, in mock anger.

"Good night, Padfoot," Remus answered sweetly.

"Good night, Prongs."

"Good night, Pads."

"Good night, Wormtail."

"Night, Padfoot. See you tomorrow."

The next day, Sirius woke bright and early. He ate breakfast and headed back to his room, only to sneak out the window. Walking for about ten minutes, he didn't really care where he ended up; he just needed to be far enough away that his parents would not hear the Knight Bus. Then he put out his wand.

BANG! The vibrantly purple Knight Bus appeared before him. Having snuck out of the Malfoys' on several occasions this past summer, he found the Knight Bus the best way to get around. He had even become somewhat familiar with the greeter, Ernie, and found he rather enjoyed the violence of the ride.

"Hey Ern. Leaky Cauldron, please." Sirius handed Ernie the bus fare and took a seat. He knew from experience that, at night, all of the seats were converted into beds. He had spent a couple of hours one night just riding the bus. He started the evening lying in a bed, letting the bus jar the bed back and forth with its sudden starts and stops. Then he rode the bed like a surf board to see if he could maintain his balance. But today he had somewhere to be.

When the bus jerked to a stop in front of the familiar wizard inn, Sirius used the momentum of the jolt to casually lift him out of his seat, and he headed for the door. "Later, Ern."

Ernie waved goodbye to the young man.

Sirius entered The Leaky Cauldron and looked around. His friends weren't there yet, but he was early, even for the eight o'clock time. He decided his first trip should be to Gringotts. There he could withdraw some money from his account and exchange it for muggle money. He then wandered the shops for a while until, finally, at ten o'clock, he felt his mirror vibrate. He headed to a small walkway between two stores so he could talk into the mirror inconspicuously.

"Prongs. You at The Leaky Cauldron?"

James yawned broadly, "Yeah. We just got here."

Sirius snickered. "Right. I'll be there in a few."

The others were eating breakfast by the time he arrived at the inn. "You haven't eaten yet?" Sirius asked, somewhat frustrated now. He was ready for their great London adventure to begin.

"No. We did. But Peter got hungry and his food looked good… So we're eating again." James looked a little embarrassed. Sirius sighed and sat down with them, picking food off of each of their plates. It had been longer since he had last eaten.

"Anybody have any place specific they want to go?" Remus asked.

"Why don't we just walk and see where it takes us?" James suggested.

"Good, but I think we should take the bus downtown first," Sirius said. "There will be more things to do there."

"Can we go to a Cinema?" Peter asked excitedly.

"Sure," James answered.

"We should get a tour guide," Sirius grinned.

"Like whom?" Remus asked.

Sirius glanced at James. "Like Gillette."

The others thought it sounded like a good idea. It would be nice to have some idea where they were going. So Sirius stuck out his wand again and the Knight Bus appeared, causing Peter to squeak and jump nearly a foot off the ground.

"Wow, didn't know you could jump that high," Sirius snarked. He told Ernie the Beynon's address. They arrived, after two other stops, a block from Gillette's house.

Sirius walked up to her home and knocked. A woman he had not seen before answered the door. "Uh… is Gillette Beynon here?"

The woman smiled pleasantly. "Yes, of course. Come in. You must be cold." She let them into the house, calling over her shoulder, "Gillette."

After a few seconds, Gillette came down the stairs. "Sirius!" Her eyes lit up and she took a running leap at him.

He caught her and said, "Hey love. We were just in London," he indicated the others with his hand and, once Sirius put her down, she greeted them with hugs, "and wondered if you would give us a tour."

"Hmm," she said, grinning. "Hold on. I have company," she glanced at James when she said this, then continued, "I'll see if she's up for it."

Sirius rocked on the heels of his feet, grinning. James noticed he had that mischievous glint in his eyes that told him seeing Gillette wasn't his only reason for choosing her as tour guide.

Another two minutes went by before Gillette came back down the stairs. She had a hold of Lily's hand and was dragging her behind.

"Guess I should ask my Dad," Gillette said, and left Lily standing with the Marauders, Sirius still grinning wickedly. James was grinning too, now. Remus had rolled his eyes, but was intensely interested in the new development. It was like watching a train wreck, and he wondered how bad it would get by the end of the day. Peter stood in the background, his mouth slightly open, taking in everything that was going on. He wondered if Sirius had known Lily was going to be here.

"Have a nice Christmas, Evans?" Sirius asked.

Lily shrugged. "It's nice being with Gillette."

"Okay," Gillette reappeared. "Where do you want to go?"

"Clothes," Sirius said, surprising everyone. "We're going to be in Muggle London, I think we should look the part."

"Oo. Fun. I've always wanted a life-sized Ken doll," Gillette teased. The two girls giggled, while the guys frowned. None of them were familiar with the reference. "Let's go. I know a couple great shopping places, right Lils?"

Lily nodded. As they stepped outside, she frowned. "How exactly are we getting there?"

"Knight Bus," Sirius said excitedly and stuck out his wand.

"Oh joy." Remus was not nearly as excited. The Knight Bus made him a bit seasick. Lily and Gillette, who had never ridden the Knight Bus, looked curiously at him.

The two girls startled at its abrupt arrival. When they boarded the bus, Gillette gave the location and the bus jolted to a start. Both girls screamed at the unexpected start, but ended up giggling most of the trip due to the guys' antics, and probably nerves.

The lot of them stumbled off the bus and onto the busy London sidewalk. They took just a minute to orient themselves.

"There has got to be a better way to travel," Peter said, looking rather green. Remus and Gillette nodded in agreement.

"Oi," Gillette breathed. "Okay. This way." Gillette led them to the clothing store where she shopped for clothes. She and Lily picked out a few outfits for the guys, then browsed the ladies section of the store.

Once the guys were finally dressed, the girls made them walk the length of the dressing area. They whistled and cat-called as the guys strutted their stuff, much to the embarrassment of Remus and Peter, while Sirius and James hammed it up, making the girls laugh in spite of themselves.

They paid for their clothes and headed out for a day of fun. They went to a cinema to watch a movie. Lily decided it would be fun to take them to a 3-D special screening.

"There is no way I'm wearing these glasses," James said in disgust.

"Yes, you are, Potter, or you'll miss the fun," Lily insisted.

Lily and Gillette were both highly amused at the guys' reaction to the 3-D images. Sirius kept trying to reach out and touch the objects in front of him. James kept taking off the glasses, muttering about muggle magic. Peter was enthralled by the movie; and Remus couldn't decide which was more entertaining, the movie or his friends.

Sirius and James kept the glasses on most of the rest of the day, despite every effort on the part of Gillette, Lily and Remus to explain that they only worked for the movie. It became a joke with them; Sirius and James kept claiming they could see things in 3-D, and then acting like they were being attacked by random objects. Lily finally got tired of their antics and took their glasses from them.

They went to an appliance store, because the Marauders were fascinated by the electric appliances. James wanted to buy a popcorn popper, but Lily insisted it wouldn't work at the school. Next they went to a toy store, and all of them had great fun until the proprietor decided he'd had enough and chased them all out. Then they went into a record store. Peter was familiar with some of the music because his mum listened to muggle music whenever she got the chance, but the others flipped through the records and stood, just listening to the music as it came over the speakers in the store.

It was while at the music store that Sirius saw something he'd never seen before and immediately fell in love.

"Prongs," Sirius said in a hushed voice. "I'll be right back." He practically floated out of the store.

James shrugged and continued going through the records, asking Lily and Gillette what the music was like.

Sirius walked outside and stood, mouth slightly open, in front of a shiny black and silver motorbike. He stepped closer and reached out to touch the handlebars.

"Hey!"

Sirius looked around and saw a rather large, burly man in leather walk up to him. "Stay away from the bike."

"Sorry. It's just…"

The man's face softened at the look on Sirius' face. "Beautiful?" he finished.

Sirius nodded. "Are you… 'Harley Davidson'?"

The man gave him a funny look and then chuckled. "No kid. That's the company that makes these."

"Like a Nimbus," Sirius said more to himself. Brooms were made by different companies, and not all brooms were created equal.

The man frowned again, "I haven't heard of that one. You ever ride a bike before?"

"No." Sirius hadn't taken his eyes off the bike since the big man first interrupted his gazing.

"Huh. You should come by my shop. I've got a lot of different models there. Even have a school to teach ya how to ride."

Sirius' eyes snapped over to the man in interest. "Really?"

"Sure. Here's my card." The man handed Sirius a business card.

"Thanks." He took another look at the bike. "Thank you," he said again, taking the card and then shaking the man's hand. The man mounted his bike and started her up.

Sirius grinned at the sound. It was loud, but to him it purred of desire and freedom. The man put on his helmet and rode away.

Sirius re-entered the music store, a dreamy look in his eye. Remus had been watching the exchange through the window of the store. He walked up and put a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Don't worry mate, there's one out there for you, too."

Sirius nodded and said, absently, "I need leather pants." At this, Remus chuckled and walked away, shaking his head.

After the record store, they decided to get a bite to eat. By the time they were finished eating, it was getting late and the girls needed to get home. The Marauders rode with them on the Knight Bus, making sure they arrived safely, before dropping Peter, Remus and James at the Potters home.

Sirius was the last to get to his house. Every step from the Knight Bus to his house felt like drudgery. He was already tired from the long day. He half wanted to remain out, but it was December, which meant it was cold. He didn't have anywhere else to go, so he just kept walking toward the house and snuck back into his room.

So far so good. He suddenly realized he was still wearing his muggle cloths. He quickly changed and hid them between the mattresses of his bed. Kreacher had, in fact, been unpacking his trunk every day, so he couldn't put them in there. And he couldn't put them in his wardrobe in case his parents wanted him to wear something for some occasion or other, in which case, Kreacher would lay out his clothes and most likely find them. So it was under the mattress they went. He crawled into bed, content with how the day went – James and Lily had actually gotten along and everyone had fun. He fell asleep dwelling on his new love and wondering how much he would have to save to be able to buy a bike right out of school, though he probably already had enough in his account. At least his parents had given him that.

- - - - -

A/N - Well... It was kind of Christmas-y, eh?

A note about Regulus: I love the Regulus character. I think he's wonderfully complex - a boy caught between expectation, disappointment, fear, and who he really is deep inside (because I believe he was a lot more like his brother than he let on). He does, however, sometimes get lost trying to figure out who he is. All that to say, he was a bit annoying in this chapter - even to me, but I really do like the boy. Anyway...

Thank you to all who have read and to those who review. I love hearing what y'all think. Thank you for keeping with me through this adventure. And special thanks to my betas – Mom, mei mei, and J.A.Carlton. You know (hopefully) how much I love you. Thank you.

Nonair - Thank you very much. I'm glad the scene came across well with Remus as a thinking, rational werewolf (at least somewhat) and the boys being there for the first time. I hope you have a lovely and relaxing holiday. Thanks again.